Microsoft Pressing Ahead with Lawsuit on U.S. Spying Orders

Microsoft said Friday that it will carry on with litigation to reveal more details about secret U.S. surveillance demands, after the company said negotiations with the government failed to reach an “agreement acceptable to all.”

Big U.S. technology companies, including Microsoft, Google and Facebook, have been caught in a swirl of controversy following revelations of how the National Security Agency taps customer data for U.S. spying programs. Since the issue spilled into public view this spring in documents disclosed by Edward Snowden, the companies have sought to show they don’t automatically hand over customer information when the spooks come calling.

Microsoft, Google and other companies have said efforts to fight those perceptions have been hamstrung because federal authorities have limited how much companies can say about the number and nature of surveillance requests they receives under a secret law, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Microsoft and Google each sued the government this summer, saying the First Amendment enables them to disclose more about spying demands.

In a blog post Friday, Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith said Google and Microsoft had been negotiating for weeks with the DOJ to reach an agreement that would let companies disclose more, including the number of surveillance demands the companies get for the text of emails and other content. After those talks recently broke down, Smith said his company decided to “move forward” with the lawsuit filed this summer.

Smith wrote in his blog post:

“With the failure of our recent negotiations, we will move forward with litigation in the hope that the courts will uphold our right to speak more freely. And with a growing discussion on Capitol Hill, we hope Congress will continue to press for the right of technology companies to disclose relevant information in an appropriate way.”

In a statement, a Google spokeswoman said:

“While the government’s decision to publish aggregate information about certain national security requests is a step in the right direction, we believe there is still too much secrecy around these requests and that more openness is needed.”